According to LinkedIn, the biggest trends set to change how recruiters hire this year are diversity, reinventing the interview process, data, and artificial intelligence.

The annual report surveyed over 8,800 recruiters and hiring managers from 39 countries to better understand these trends and help recruitment teams prepare for 2018.

1. Diversity is key

The report revealed the most important trends are:

Diversity

Inclusion

Belonging

With 82% of UK hiring managers saying this is the key issue impacting how they hire. The data also shows that companies now see having a diverse workforce directly correlating with improved culture and a boosted company performance.

Despite the attention on the subject, many companies are still coming up against barriers, with nearly two-fifths globally struggling to find diverse candidates to interview and 27% finding it difficult to retain diverse employees.

2. Reinventing the job interview

Traditional job interviews have been a standard for decades, but there is a shift coming. Half of UK respondents said that changes to interview techniques are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ important to the future of hiring, making way for a new-age interview process.

The biggest problems for talent leaders are:

Assessing a candidate’s soft skills (63%)

Understanding their weaknesses (57%)

Interviewer bias (42%)

In 2018, new tools set to emerge will help to revolutionize the process, including virtual reality assessments, meeting in casual settings, and job auditions. This, in turn, will make it harder for candidates to embellish skills and means they get to try a job for fit first.

3. Data continues to be key

Most professionals in the industry use data in their jobs now, but this is set to accelerate in 2018 with nearly two-fifths seeing it as one of the most important factors in the hiring process.

Over two thirds are currently making use of data for things like increased retention, evaluating skills and building better offers – but within the next two years, 79% are likely to be using data in their hiring process, suggesting an even greater reliance on it.

4. AI will become your secret assistant

The term artificial intelligence is often seen as threatening when it comes to jobs, but for recruiters who can receive hundreds of CVs a day, it’s set to become the secret workhouse that helps them do their jobs better. Over a quarter of UK, respondents said AI is the most important trend for 2018, helping them source, screen, and nurture candidates – saving time and helping to remove any human bias.

While AI can replace some processes, only 14% think it will eliminate the recruiter’s job altogether; building relationships, seeing candidate potential and judging culture fit are amongst the top skills AI is least likely to replace.

Over the past few years, hiring talent has become repetitive, and sometimes transactional, process. But there is a shift happening, and these emerging trends are helping to elevate recruitment to a more strategic profession that focuses on the most important and gratifying parts of the job – the human part and thinking critically about how to win the right talent. It’ll be a keen finger on the pulse with these trends that will help recruiters stay alive in our ever-evolving market.